Assess the reasons why the Union failed to win the Civil War by 1863. and How successful were t - page 6
Keywords: The American Civil war – The war 1861-63
By ROYDS on 29/09/2008
Level: A Level (Year 12) / AS Level
Page Number: 6 of 8 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Virginia amounted huge pressure upon the military leaders and politicians behind the war. The first battle of Manassas was especially significant as is proved the south could over come the huge disadvantages they had. The Confederacy, led by Beauregard, were outnumbered 22,000 to 30,000 and were near to defeat until general Joe Johnston who arrived by train to turn things around with 11,000 men, the Confederates won. This victory though may have spurred the north on even more so after an embarrassing defeat from then on united Confederates and gave them an ‘espirit de corps’, a loyalty and confidence in something, they felt they could do it, hold out and resist. Though the Confederacy remained where they were and didn’t press home their early advantage, giving the Union time to regroup and reorganise, first Manassas proved to be very beneficial as it created a myth of invincibility surrounding ‘stone wall’ Jackson. Also many people would leave their homes and watch or spectate the battles, this meant that Confederacy publicly humiliated the Union and made many feel that the Confederacy were better than the Union – a more marshal society.
Confederate successes continued in 1863 but the toll of the war was taking its turn on the Confederacy by this stage. In May 1863 the Confederate army did indeed achieve a staggering victory as Chancellorsville. Again the Confederate troops led by Lee and Jackson were outnumbered 2-1 and the Union had 130,000 men, victory seemed very unlikely. Yet Lee and Jackson pulled it off, though Jackson did die in this battle, caught up in friendly fire. The trouble with Lee’s successes in Virginia throughout the whole war, but particularly by 1863 was that they were costly - losses were often high. Losses in this battle alone were 13,000, which after 3 three years of war it can be appreciated that it really did start to affect the Confederates. Gettysburg was a major turning point for the Confederate forces, which ruined all previous success in Virginia. It highlighted the loss of live that Lee’s campaign brought about. During the 3-day battle the Confederacy progressively began to take the back foot and on the third day lost 600,000 troops in less than 1 hour of battle. The total losses in Gettysburg amounted to 1/3 of the entire Confederate army. This was so significant as all the previous success since 1861 had been taken away,
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